The dude from www.keith-moore.net shooting his fingers off about gigs and life in the Bay Area

Cool Guitar Songs in Drop D Tuning…

Drop D tuning is an ultra cool, simple way to make your guitar more heavy sounding. Take the low E, tune it down to D (might even want to tune the high E down to D as well, though that’s not the norm…but it sounds great) and you’re there. Power chords can now be played with one finger because the root and 5th are on the same fret instead of a step apart. Use the open string power chord in any progression and the riffs write themselves…to me, anyway.

The other tunings annoy the crap out of me. My guitar students keep bringing in these modern metal bands that do seven string drop D, down ten steps or whatever, so the strings flutter all slack off the strings. They don’t even know how to use a tuner yet they want to return their guitar to play this stuff, which gives them the excuse not to practice their basics because they don’t know how to get it back in tune. Half the time I tell them to push the whammy bar of their Squiers as far down as they’ll go and strum the strings…same thing!

Alright, sounds like the grouchy teacher needs a cup of coffee and a workout. I actually love many of those bands and tunings…

Drop D is my teaching trick of keeping students at bay about wild tunings yet keeping them motivated at the same time. So I thought I’d create a list of tunes I often teach that are in drop D that I teach regularly. I’ll warn you now this list ain’t going to be comprehensive, so you’d better add something in the comment section!

–Nirvana used a lot of drop D in their songs. My favorite is “Heart Shaped Box”.

–Rage Against the Machine did too. “Killing in the Name” and “Testify” are my favorites.

–“Monkey Wrench” by the Foo Fighters. I think “Everlong” is too, gotta check.

–“Laid to Rest” by Lamb of God. Alright, I don’t know how famous this song is, but it’s in the Guitar Hero tab book and all the teens seem happy to learn that opening riff, which rocks, so there you go!

–“Slither” by Velvet Revolver has some choice Slash riffs in drop D.

–“Chop Suey!” by System of a Down still gets requested. I think it’s drop D down a whole step, but if you don’t mind being a step higher than the song, just lowering the low E down to D should work.

–“Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. Actually, isn’t most of their stuff in drop D? “Outshined” is another good one.

–“Walk” by Pantera. Simple yet tricky, uber cool riff.

Help?

Looking for a guitar lesson poster that doesn’t have the usual boredom on it? I published a rhythm guitar poster crammed with advanced chords & theory ideas on how to use them. Check it out!

Silverchair wasn’t so lousy. Check out Spawn Again. But basically anything after their first album showed serious song writing progress. It’s a shame mainstream radio didn’t notice. But, then again, if talent mattered then Brittany spears and Lady GaGa etc wouldn’t matter.

avenged sevenfold has most of their songs in drop D. I think all of them are in drop D, and they have some pretty sick songs. like Bat Country, Afterlife, Almost Easy, and a really good one, Gunslinger. you should check them out

Can’t think of any famous songs off the top of my head, but I’ve learned some cool drop D tunes from the Beginning and Intermediate Fingerstyle books put out by Alfred (the one with the woman on the cover strumming an acoustic).

Actually, A7X’s album with just the black bat on the white background is entirely in Drop C# (drop D with another half step down on all strings, so C# G# C# F# A# D#). Other than that I’m pretty sure it’s all drop D. I personally love Unholy Confessions.

The only SOAD song in Drop D is Marmalade. Their first album, Toxicity, and Steal This Album! are in Drop C. Hypnotize/Mezmerize are all Drop C# except for Dreaming, which is Drop C.

Metallica’s All Nightmare Long is freaking sick.

Show Me How To Live by Audioslave is cool.

The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle and Monument by A Day To Remember can be played in Drop D.

Yeah idk where you heard that Waking The Fallen was in Drop C but my band focuses on almost only Avenged Sevenfold Covers when were not writing our own music and ive never seen any of there music in Drop C maybe im just not looking to closely but yea we always play in Drop D of Standard

actually all BILLY TALENT is in drop D.
also some fun songs to play in drop d ; bulls on parade- rage against the machine. fallen leaves, this is how it goes etc -billy talent… now i have a request
can someone plz help me on thye matter “are the darkness playing in drop d? ” plz would appreciate it a lot

wow so many gay bands use drop d. heres some tough mothers that use drop d:
THE MELVINS – honeybucket, most of their houdini album
kyuss asteroid,n.o, and others are really fun to play technically its drop c or c# but whatever
superjoint ritual – oblivious maximus <FUCKING FUN!
alice in chains
old school sepultura use drop d are fair bit as well

All Avenged Sevenfold is Drop D except for the following songs: Radiant Eclipse drop c, Almost Easy drop db, Scream drop db, A Little Piece of Heaven drop c, Welcome to the Family (they play this live in drop c# sometimes but on the record it is played in drop d), Buried alive E standard, So Far Away E standard, Victim drop c, Tonight the World Dies E standard, Fiction drop c, Hail to the King drop db, Requiem drop db, Crimson Day E standard, Coming Home drop db, Acid Rain E standard. That’s all that are on the Albums Waking the Fallen, City Of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare, and Hail To the King. I haven’t listed any from Sounding the Seventh Trumpet or Live in the LBC and Diamonds in the Rough because I don’t have those albums or guitar tab books. Demons might be in drop db but idk. MY SOURCES; Avenged Sevenfold guitar tab books and years of experience